[Zappa]

I am concidering buying either Touareg, Cayenne or X5. As I am living in Norway, one of the key factors when choosing, will be the ability to drive on ice and snow.
Have been searching the net for videoclips demonstrating this. Found some videos of Touareg and X5 driving on snow, but that did not impress me much. Can practically do the same thing with the front-wheel driven Chrysler Voyager I am driving now. Driving on snow is not difficult.
Driving on wet & slippery snow or ice is a little worse. Driving uphill mountain-road on ice-roads is even worse.
The average climb up to my mountain-cottage is 10%. Touareg does 45%, but perhaps not on ice? So I am talking narrow, curvy roads with a 10% average climb on ice and snow. My Chrysler has allways done the job without chains, but sometimes with some difficulty. Putting on chains, there are no difficulties, but I am too lazy to do that. Last winter the road was pure slippery ice, and the only car that climbed up the mountain-road without chains, was a Range Rover. That was when I started thinking 4X4.

What are your exeperiences driving on ice and snow with the Touareg?
Anyone knowing any videoclips or photo's showing demanding ice & snow-conditions?
Thankful for your input & feedback on this particular part of off-road/on-road driving.
:wave:

 

[4x4s]

I drove my Touareg all last winter in the New England ice and snow. It was outstanding. Probably nothing that you would consider extreme, however my driveway is very steep and the Touareg would climb it easily when my Passat and New Beetle would not.

I would recommend the Touareg.

 

[Bigscout79]

I am not a fan of the stock continental tires, but I have to say I don't think you'll be unhappy with the manners in the snow or ice. If you were to put on a slightly more aggressive a/t tire you would have an unstoppable vehicle. I'm so onboard with this whole ESP system I seriously ought to be getting some kickback - bar none the best system for slippery driving I've ever seen. I've read some articles on it since last Wednesday when I had a chance to actually use it - Mercedes is using it on their high end stuff, and some others are too - I won't buy a car without it from now on - my dealer didn't seem to know much about it beyond the literature, but let me tell you - its simply amazing you can't make the car misbehave when its on - its brilliant seriously.

 

[Tahoe]

I would look much more into tires than cars. Buy a good pair of snow tires that are studded if you want the best traction on ice. Aside from a good pair of studded snow tires I can't stress enough how many times a simple snow shovel and bag of sand has saved me in winter driving. Get a good one and leave it in your trunk all winter.

I have a cabin on a mountain lake in California with a very very steep driveway. We usually park at the top and walk down in the winter. But a few times we have driven down in my (old car) Jeep Grand Cherokee with BF Goodrich All terrains and a foot or two of snow on the driveway. The Jeep makes it up some very steep inclines as long as there is some snow to provide traction. Once the driveway has been plowed and a small layer of ice is left, there is no chance driving up. We usually have to winch it out with my neighbors Durango. I have tried all sorts of things, but ice on a steep incline makes it super difficult for almost any car.

I would recommend the Touareg with a good set of snow tires. By the way, the Cayenne is pretty bad in the snow with the stock tires. I drove over Donner Summit with it last weekend during a storm.

 

[Zappa]

Very interesting to see those photoes of the Cayenne. Those snow-conditions I would concider peanuts and not difficult at all. I think it must have been the drivers fault, doing some serious mistakes.

Yes, tires are of course important. I have the best on my present front-wheel-driven Chrysler Voyager, and they have helped me up the icey mountain road. But tires alone does not do it. In my imagination the Touaregs ability to shift power to the wheel(s) that has the best grip would help tremendously when the conditions are extra difficult.

Thinking back to last winther when all the cars kept spinning except for the 4x4 Range Rover that just drove up the road without any difficulties, I imagine a Touareg also would have made it. That is what I am looking for, if anyone here has experienced this with a Touareg.

 

[MountainLord]

I have a V8 Treg with Nitto Terra Grapplers on it and it seems to do very well in snow and pretty decent in ice. The only problem I've experienced with winter driving was the windshield wiper spray valve freezing in really cold temps 0-20 F. Otherwise pretty solid in snow.

 

[stevencldr]

Hi, this is my first post. I picked up my new Touareg last night. Got a white V6 with NAV, air suspension, and some other goodies. Its a fantastic automobile.

Cayenne's aren't bad in snow, in fact they are awsome...if equiped with the right tires. This past weekend i went up to Tahoe with my Dad in his Cayenne, and on our way home we got caught in that nasty storm. The Cayenne just kept slippin and sliding all over the place. We had to drive at 20MPH while eveyone else was driving at about 45mph. Turns out, Porsche dont equip Cayenne's with snow tires unless you special order them. The SUV is "high performance automobile that generally requires high performance tires", or so the dealer said after my dad complained to him.

I mean, if you look at the cars development videos or read any off road tests, the car performs better than any stock SUV except a Hummer H1. Supposedly its even better than the Range Rover. My father was a victim of a misleading salesman (and apparantly himself, as he didnt check that there was an M+S symbol on the tires which did have large "4X4" lettering), and i believe so are a lot of Cayenne owners.

By the way, i love the Treg. Its just a slower and more comfortable Cayenne in my oppinion. And definately the greatest value-for-money SUV on the market.

-Stevencldr

 

[TREGinginCO]

I have three word to describe the TOUAREG in snow and on ice ---


I LOVE IT!!!!


:dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

 

[aircooled]

I have a V8 Treg with Nitto Terra Grapplers on it and it seems to do very well in snow and pretty decent in ice. The only problem I've experienced with winter driving was the windshield wiper spray valve freezing in really cold temps 0-20 F. Otherwise pretty solid in snow.

I have never had the washer jet freeze up for the hood nozzles. They are heated. Pop the hood and make sure they are plugged in. Now the headlight washers freeze up on me all of the time.

As for my snow experiences, I have to say I love mine with adequate snow tires. The Bridgestone Dueler REVOs that I have on a great in snow, not bad on ice and grip like a mother when accellerating. Stopping? That's a different story. I would like it to stop better, but I have two big thing against me: weight of the vehicle, width of the tire. I am still considering moving to a studded snow for this exact reason.

 

[4x4s]

Great picture, as usual, Aircooled. :clap:

 

[TouaregChicago]

I want to see the videos of the Touareg and X5 in the snow!!

 

[aarolyba]

Aircooled,
You obviously use the Touareg heavily in the snow. What do think of the Grinding sound from the Transfer case when spinning the wheels in the ice? Does it still grind with the ESP off?
Thanks ,
Aaron.

 

[hspiva]

No complaints. Get "grinding" sound, but the system works.

 

[aircooled]

I'm not sure what 'grinding' you are talking about. It think what you are hearing is the ABS individually applying brake pressure on the wheels that are excessively spinning.

 

[chinaberryway]

19 inch snows

Drove from Grand Junction, CO to Carson City, NV yesterday with new 19 inch Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires. Didn't have a lot of snow but did go through two sections of highway with chain controls or snow tires required. Everything was fine. Will probably test the tires a bit better during the coming week with ski trips in the Tahoe area.

 

[Tahoe]

I just thought I would add some winter wonderland photos to the post. Sorry I don't have any photos of my Touareg in the snow. We decided to take the old Jeep to the cabin this time because it has better tires for the snow.

 

[aarolyba]

The Grinding sound is more than the ABS. The noise is much different as compared to simply hitting the brakes on Ice and hearing the ABS kick in. Actual Grinding. The Service Dept. States that it is normal, but I'm not so sure.

 

[TREGinginCO]

The entire traction/stability/braking system when it's working can be fairly noisy and sounds a bit like a grinding noise.

I'd only be concerned if you heard it all the time and if it happened when you're making sharp turns.

 

[garibaldo]

Nice pics! I really like that pic of your friend Chris doing what looks like an iron cross over the road. It looks like he almost doesn't have enough air to clear it, landing on the upside of the enbankment slinding backwards... [/quote]

 

[Tahoe]

Yes it appears that way but he landed 10 ft past the guard rail and has even jumped over a school bus on another road jump that we built a few years ago.